


A King's Crown

by Queen_Richard (Palatinedreams)



Category: 12th Century CE RPF, Historical RPF, Original Work, Richard I. the Lionheart -Fandom
Genre: Bittersweet, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, First Time, Friends to Lovers, Historical References, Longing, Love, M/M, Making Love, Memories, Past Relationship(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-21
Updated: 2020-09-21
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:15:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,046
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26583511
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Palatinedreams/pseuds/Queen_Richard
Summary: Richard Plantagenet returned to England after his captivity in Germany, and his faithful minstrel Blondel is there to ease the burden he's carrying and offer comfort and love.
Relationships: Blondel de Nesle/Richard I of England
Comments: 4
Kudos: 3





	A King's Crown

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Arrested](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arrested/gifts).



> My dear Arrested,
> 
> your favorite story about my version of Blondel and Richard will have to wait for a bit longer as it has several chapters I need to re-read and edit before I can give it back to you, but I'm happy that I can give this one finally back to you today. <33

“What can you tell me about my son, Blondel?”

The young bard looked up at Lady Eleanor to meet her questioning glance. He was sitting on the stony floor before her chair with his harp in his lap, his fingers stroking gently over the strings to fill the chamber with its sweet tunes.

“Pardon me, my lady?” he asked, careful to keep his face calm and controlled. Lady Eleanor was not to be fooled easily, as she was for sure one of the most intelligent and attentive people Blondel had ever met. He'd spent the last years of his youth with her, and she'd once known him better than even Richard himself, reading him as easily as she'd read her son when he'd been a young prince who had still searched his place in this confusing and sometimes cruel world. Blondel still had a hard time keeping his secrets from her – or Richard's secrets in this case - and he hoped that he'd learned to keep his thoughts to himself and hide them from her during their long separation.

“You know what I mean, Blondel,” Eleanor responded with slightly narrowed eyes. She was still beautiful, and only few creases and wrinkles crossed her ageless aristocratic features. She'd lost so much, but the years had been friendly to her, and Blondel couldn't shake off the feeling that she would even outlive him and Richard. “He's so different since he came back to me. So distant.”

“He was away for years, my lady. He fought in the Holy Land and had to bury friends there, of course he changed,” Blondel said, but Eleanor's smile made clear that she saw through his attempt to misunderstand her.

“My son has always been a warrior, and he has always known where his duties lie, but this brought us even closer together.” Her eyes regarded him thoughtfully, and Blondel stilled his hand on his harp. 

“He was a hostage for more than a year, worrying deeply about you and his subjects, my lady. He's just returned to his country, he needs time to become the man again who left you so many years ago. His crown is a heavy burden, after his captivity even more than ever before.”

Eleanor nodded slowly. “You were there with him, Blondel. Please tell me, did they treat him well? Like the king he is? Was he unhappy there, alone and trapped in Castle Trifels?”

Lady Eleanor knew better than anybody else in this world what it meant to be trapped in a castle, she had been her husband's prisoner for much longer than her son had been the emperor's hostage, of course she understood what Richard had gone through while he'd been Heinrich's royal hostage, forced to pay an obscenely huge amount of money for his freedom. Money his subjects had had to bring up for him, and who were suffering the consequences now, consequences that were severe and would last for longer than a lifetime, affecting their children and grandchildren too.

Lady Eleanor knew all of this as the skilled politician she was, but in this moment she was not the politician and diplomat she'd been most of her life, but only a mother worrying about her deeply loved son's well-being.

Blondel swallowed, but he returned Lady Eleanor's concerned gaze without blinking or trying to hide something from her. “No, my lady, your son wasn't alone and unhappy in Castle Trifels,” he said gently. “He was loved and adored by each and every resident of the castle.”

Especially by one, the beautiful and kindhearted squire Erik of Thanstein, who'd served her son with greatest devotion, but this was nothing Richard's mother ever needed to know.

*~*~*

Blondel remembered his talk with Richard's mother when he watched the archbishop lifting the golden crown to put it onto Richard's royal head and coronate him as England's rightful king for a second time with it.

Richard had given in to the wishes of his counselors and ministers to renew his bond with his subjects after his long absence and his captivity, and Blondel's heart clenched with love at the sight of Richard's tall figure kneeling before the altar of the cathedral. Richard's posture was straight and proud, hiding his real thoughts and feelings as he looked up at the crucifix that was hanging over the holy altar. In this moment he was not the man Richard with the needs and dreams every human being had, but only the king who'd just sworn another holy oath to protect and serve his country and his subjects with all his heart, and he accepted the heavy crown with both pride and humbleness when the archbishop topped him again.

Blondel had been allowed to join Lady Eleanor and her ladies and therefore had a good view on the altar and his beloved king. His right hand was clutching his velvet jerkin right over his heart, his fingers closing over the small leather bag that was hidden beneath his shirt. The crown looked so beautiful on Richard's head, the gold and jewels it was made of sparkling in the light of the thousands of candles that illuminated the cathedral, but for Blondel it was only another chain that imprisoned the man he loved more than life itself, its metal cold and far too heavy for a single man to carry it.

Richard was a prisoner of his heritage and his duties as the King of England, and in some ways he'd been much freer when he'd been Heinrich's hostage, allowed to love and have dreams. Being released from his captivity had meant for him to return to another kind of prison, his new prison being a golden cage every king lived in, worshiped and adored as the powerful ruler over thousands of people, but never truly loved for the man he was; and the heavy burden of the crown was a weight his traitorous brother desired more than Richard had ever desired it, even though only few people would agree with Blondel on this matter.

It was Richard's fate and duty to serve England as the son of Heinrich and Eleanor he was, and it was Blondel's fate and duty to serve his beloved king and make sure that he could be the man Richard he'd been in Erik's arms at least now and then. The burden Blondel was carrying since he'd left Castle Trifels was a small and light burden compared to Richard's golden crown, and it was a burden he carried with pride and happiness. Erik's letter he'd been entrusted with was safely hidden in the bag hanging right over Blondel's heart, and it was a welcome and cherished weight because it was a sign of true and undying love, love that gave everything and demanded nothing, a crown that brought freedom and happiness to the one wearing it instead of imprisonment, mistrust and hate.

The golden crown Richard was wearing now had turned brothers into enemies and married couples into opponents, and it brought war and misery to all people living under its shadow. It had been like this from the beginning, and Blondel doubted that it would ever change. Gold and jewels had never been what Blondel had longed for, and he knew that it was the same for the beautiful young squire who had always cared more about the simple man Richard than he'd cared about the powerful monarch all the others saw when they looked at him.

Blondel had mused about the right time to give Richard Erik's letter ever since Erik had put the bag in his hand before he'd had to say goodbye to his beloved king, and he knew with a sudden certainty that tonight was the moment he'd been waiting for.

Erik's love would ease the burden of Richard's heavy golden crown, and Blondel's heart sang with joy as he bent his head to pray for his king, a king who wasn't free to love the one his heart belonged to because the love for his country and his people would always come first for Richard Plantagenet, the king who was called the Lionheart.

*~*~*

Only two candles lit up the royal bedchamber at this hour of the night, and Richard's face was hidden in the shadows when he carefully folded the letter after reading it. He stroked over the parchment with tender fingers, and Blondel could see a single tear glistening on Richard's cheek before the king turned away to stalk over to the window and look outside for a rather long time, his right hand that was holding the small precious scroll pressed against his chest and his beating heart underneath his royal coat.

Blondel was standing by the door, waiting patiently for his king to pull himself together again and offering comfort by his mere presence. He'd once been jealous of the young squire who'd won the love of Blondel's adored king with just one look out of his beautiful hazel-green eyes and his sparkling smile, but he'd soon found out that it was hard not to love Erik of Thanstein, and he didn't begrudge him Richard's love any longer.

Erik's love had made Richard happy, and Richard's happiness was all that had ever mattered to Blondel.

“Please come here, Blondel.”

Richard's voice was soft and quiet like the night surrounding them, and Blondel crossed the room slowly to stand beside his king and meet his dark eyes with his own amber-golden ones.

The king reached for the small leather bag hanging around Blondel's neck on a thin cord to hide the treasure back in there, his gaze never leaving Blondel's face when he let the bag slip back under Blondel's shirt.

“Will you carry this letter for me, my Blondel? I cannot keep it, but I cannot burn it like Erik asked me to do either. My heart is in this letter, and I can't burn my heart, no yet. My people still need me.”

Blondel bent his head for his king, and he did so with love and pride. The young minstrel had served several masters before fate had reunited him with his beloved king again, and he'd been forced to bend his head or his knee before them, but he'd never felt the love and devotion that tied him to his King Richard, and he'd only lowered his head down before them to hide the contempt and hatred they had aroused in him.

“I will carry this letter for you, and I will protect it with my own life as though it was your heart itself, my King Richard,” he said solemnly, and Richard smiled at him. 

“I know that you will, my Blondel.” He cupped Blondel's cheek with his calloused palm, and Blondel nestled his face into the tender touch, Richard's yearning for the young man he'd had to leave behind visible in his own eyes as well.

“Will you stay with me tonight, Blondel?” Richard asked, not the king demanding Blondel's surrender like he had the right to do by the ancient laws that were still accepted, but Richard asking him as the lonely man who longed for love and a pair of tender arms chasing the cold and the darkness away that had fallen upon him when he'd ridden out of the city of Mainz and Erik's figure had become smaller and smaller until he hadn't been visible any longer.

“I will, my King Richard,” Blondel said, smiling at him, “but are you sure? I don't want to add myself to the burden you already have to carry.”

Richard pulled him into his arms, and Blondel rested his head on his shoulder and let him stroke his hair. “You know that not my lack of love for you made me hesitate to make you mine, my beautiful minstrel. You know that I will always love Erik, and I know that you love him too.”

Blondel peered up at him, and Richard's wistful smile made him want to cry. “He understands, my Blondel, and he gave us his blessing. My love for you will never diminish the love I feel for him, and Erik knows that.”

“Yes, he does. I wished I could be as selfless as he is and not long for your touch the way I do,” Blondel whispered, but Richard put his finger onto his lips and then under his chin to lift it up. Blondel closed his eyes when he felt Richard's mouth upon his own, and the last thing he saw before his mind's eye was Erik's happy smile before Richard's loving kiss filled all of his senses and erased any coherent thought.

*~*~*

Richard was a man in his late thirties, but he was also still the trained knight who'd left Blondel years ago, and he didn't try to hide his body from Blondel's adoring eyes, not ashamed of his nudity and his vulnerability as he let Blondel explore and caress him.

Blondel traced along the scars too many battles had left on Richard's skin with rapturous fingertips, and he wondered for a brief moment whether or not Erik had felt the same way when he'd been allowed to do the same and caress Richard body with loving hands and lips for the first time.

Richard looked up at him, and Blondel could see the echo of the pleasure he'd shared with his sweet young knave in his dark gaze when their eyes met. They lay side by side on the canopy bed, and Blondel's lips were still tingling from the passionate kisses Richard had stolen from him in the knowledge that he wouldn't hurt Erik when he allowed himself to love Blondel the same way he would always love his beautiful squire.

Blondel wasn't sure whether or not he would have been able to be so generous and give his beloved king and Erik his blessings as well if he'd been in Erik's place, and Erik's letter had gotten an entirely new meaning to him, now that he knew its content. He'd promised Richard to protect it with his own life, and that he would do as the letter held not only Richard's heart, but Erik's heart too, and both hearts were the most precious treasures in this world to the young minstrel. This letter eased the burden of Richard's heavy crown, and Erik must have known that when he'd written it, his only wish to see his beloved king happy even when he wasn't there to be the one making him happy any longer.

His king pulling his head down to kiss him again distracted him from his musings though, and he melted against Richard's strong frame and let him explore and claim his mouth once more. Richard's kisses tasted sweeter than the sweetest berries, and Blondel was burning with love and desire for his king, his legs falling apart when Richard searched his way between them with his royal right. They both craved the same, to come as close to each other as two beings could be, and Blondel didn't feel any fear or discomfort when Richard entered him with a curious and tender finger, only love, happiness and trust. He even welcomed the slight burn as it grounded him and made him feel close to Erik, and he moaned softly against Richard's passionate kiss while he gave himself to his king with trust and love.

Richard kissed him while he prepared him, and he kissed him when he covered him with his strong body to make Blondel his in every sense of the meaning. Blondel wrapped his arms and his legs around Richard's waist, and he pushed eagerly against Richard's hips when the king entered him slowly, his arms holding Blondel tight. Richard stroked his face and whispered words of devotion and passion against his wet cheeks, and Blondel wondered how it could be that the man Richard was so different from the king Richard he had to be most of the time, his golden crown turning the gentle and caring man into the strict ruler who didn't show any mercy with his enemies and who'd once even turned against his own father and his brothers.

Lady Eleanor's words came into Blondel's mind again, and he couldn't help but wonder whether or not she loved the merciless king who craved revenge for the betrayal he'd suffered more than the kindhearted prince Richard had been when he'd been so much younger. He had learned to love both personalities that lived in Richard's body a long time ago, and Blondel knew that he couldn't have the one without the other. But here in his arms, in the shelter of the night and Richard's bedchamber, he was only the tender and kindhearted prince Blondel had fallen in love with, and it was the loving eyes of the younger prince who looked down at Blondel as Richard made love to him, thrusting deep into his body and into his soul until Blondel felt like flying.

It was the younger Richard who bent down to kiss him and whisper words of love into his ear when he enclosed Blondel's manhood with his warm hand to stroke him to completion, and it was him who held Blondel when they lay panting on the mattress afterwards, Richard's heart-wrenching tenderness filling Blondel's eyes with tears of love and emotion.

“I love you,” Richard breathed against his lips when Blondel searched for his gaze, “I will always love you.” Blondel knew that his words were meant for him as much as they were meant for Erik, but this truth didn't hurt him any longer as he loved Erik too and would always love him like he loved Richard. “I love you too, my King Richard,” he said with a smile, pulling his king back into his arms and stroking him to sleep.

Love was not made of gold and jewels, and it was invisible for the eyes of those who didn't know this feeling because they'd never been loved like Erik and Blondel loved their Lionheart, but it was a crown nevertheless, making each living being a king or queen themselves, whether they were of noble birth, simple servants or even slaves.

It was the only crown Blondel had ever wanted to wear, the crown of Richard's love.


End file.
